


Revelation

by writing_is_dreaming



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-01
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2019-06-20 05:54:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15527589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writing_is_dreaming/pseuds/writing_is_dreaming
Summary: Eight years after the war and Harry pays Hogwarts a visit to talk to his former Headmaster.





	Revelation

It was a snowy and windy day, when a skinny figure in a dark cloak walked up to the grounds of Hogwarts heading towards the castle. When he reached the big oak entrance portal he quickly passed through it, crossed the entrance hall, hurrying upstairs to the headmaster’s office.

While passing through the corridors the visitor made sure that he always stayed in the dark, so no one could discover that he was here in Scotland.

After a short walk he finally stood in front of the gargoyle who was guarding the office. It was easy for him to get into it because as an Auror he had his ways to unravel the password so he hadn’t had to know the actual password, which was used by the staff and students of Hogwarts.

While the staircase was moving upwards the visitor took of his hood which was covering his head, so no one could see his face. It was Harry Potter who came to visit Hogwarts and he was not alone. He was carrying a small bundle in his arms. Snuggled up in his thick blanked was his second born son Albus Severus Potter.

But what was Harry’s intention behind this visit? He was truly lucky that the office was vacant. But it was no coincidence because it was lunchtime and everybody was sitting in the great hall enjoying the meal.

With a loud bump the door swung open and Harry entered the office. “And I just hoped I never ever have to see you again Potter…” a voice sneered and Harry slowly turned towards the portrait where the words came from.

“Professor… Good to see you again!” replied the young father politely with a genuine smile on his face.

“I wish I could return these words to you too” said the black-haired man with the hooked nose “What gives us the doubtful honour of your visit?” he asked and Harry felt like he was back in school again.

“Uhm, I just… I just wanted to thank you!” Harry replied nervously and moved through the room.

“Oh, don’t be so ridiculous sappy. The noble Gryffindor Potter wants to thank me? What for?” spat the dark-haired man.

“I was about to tell you. So, shut up, hang in there and listen to me!” Harry said nearly raging, because the elder wizard made him feel again like a foolish idiot who was acting headless.

As the potion master heard those words he just rose an eyebrow and snorted derogative.

“Good! I just wanted to say thank you for what you did for me!” The young wizard begun. “Must have saved my ass about a hundred times and I know it wasn’t the easiest thing to do, so thank you. And I…”

“Oh, please just stop it!” Snape interrupted him loudly.

“AND I wanted to apologize for everything my father did to you!” Harry said loud enough to predominate the other voice, completely ignoring what his counterpart was saying. “I want you to acknowledge that I am not like him!”

“You are like him… You are a foolish and headless acting person!” The Slytherin interrupted again.

“I am not! I never ever bullied anybody just to get the attention of the girl I love!” Harry shouted angrily. “I have never bullied anybody ever!”

Because of his loud voice the small pack in Harry’s arms started to moan a little bit. “Shhh everything is fine…” the young wizard mumbled and started to rock his son to get him back to sleep.

“Potter can you just stop that noise? It is annoying!” The potions master sneered and pierced Harry with his gaze. “Where is this even coming from?”

“This _noise_ is coming from my son. We woke him because we spoke to loud!” Harry repeated trying to stay calm. “And NO, I cannot just turn him off!” At the ending of his saying he nearly snapped at his former teacher.

“Third generation of Potter… I am glad that I do not have to bear it.” The elderly wizard snapped back.

After those words left his mouth the portrait of Severus Snape knew he had gone too far. Harry looked up with a murderous expression on his face.

“You don’t know him yet, like you did not know me back then. You just act on assumptions you made because you knew my father. Yes, maybe I was acting headless during my time as a student here, but I just wanted to save my friends. My school days were never easy because of that mad man. Yes, I know yours were not easy too thanks to my father and godfather and I am deeply sorry and ashamed of what they did to you, because I know that feeling!”

Harry was now breathing heavily, and his face was turning red from his angry hissing, because he doesn’t want to wake his son again.

Snape drew his eyebrows together and sneered: “How should the great Harry Potter know this feeling? How it is to be al alone and you can rely on no one except on yourself?”

“Because I was bullied too!” Harry yelled back and as Snape tried to make another snarky comment, the young man quickly added: “No, not by Malfoy, but by my lovely cousin and my so-called family, back then when I had no knowledge about the Wizarding World!”

“What do you mean by that?” Snape’s voice was still sharp but now he had a questioning expression in his face.

“What I… Do not tell me that you didn’t know. You were in the order? You were…” the younger man started but was quickly interrupted by Severus.

“That does not mean I knew everything.”

“Yes, obviously.”, muttered Harry in agreement.

“You mean there is an actual reason behind that begging you did for years? You really did not want to go back to your family during the summer?” Snape asked and now he could not hold back his curious expression.

A deep sigh left Harry’s lips as he tried to summarize his childhood with the Dursleys.

“I spent the first eleven years of my life in a cupboard under the stairs, because they did not want to give me any of their spare bedrooms. I did not know my name until I went to primary school, because they only called me ‘freak’ or ‘boy’ when they talked to me. I did not know that I was a wizard until my eleventh birthday, when Hagrid came to fetch me, because the Dursleys hid the letters from me.”

Severus did not know what to say. He really had thought that the young man had a similar childhood like his father. But now he had to learn that the upbringings of the saviour were not so different from his own. He wanted to say something to Potter, but he did not know what. He never was good in comforting people and he did not want to pity the man, because this was the last thing he needed or wanted.

“The first birthday present I got was Hedwig. Hagrid bought her as a belated gift for my eleventh birthday. And in that year, I also got my very first Christmas present. It was a knitted Weasley sweater. This was the first time I felt loved and respected. Ron and Hermione were also my very first friends, where Dudley could not interfere or threaten them. “

“This is why I loved Hogwarts so much, because I had friends there, I got fed. I felt safe here and home. That’s why I did everything I could to make sure I could return here.”

Another deep sigh left his lips as he tried to gain his composure back.

“Enough of that. That is not even the reason I am here today.”

“Then Mr. Potter please do us all a favour and come to the point.”

“I am trying, Professor. But your behaviour doesn’t make this situation any easier for me.”

“What did you expect from me? That I would be happy that you turned up here? That…”

“No, I did not because I am not delusional. I just do not know where to start.”

“May I suggest you start at the beginning?”

“Oh, very funny, sir. I did not know that you are actually capable of joking.”

“Oh, believe me Potter, I am much more capable of than you give me credit for.”

“And that was too much information, sir. In case you forgot, there is a child present.”

Harry really started to like the soft banter they had, because it was so different than in his school days.

“And that’s the starting point. May I introduce you to my second son Albus Severus Potter.”

“And why would you do that?”, sneered Snape. He really did not know why Potter would pull of something like that. He did not think that Potter was capable of being so cruel and mocking him, by telling him that he named his son after himself. Or… No, it must be a joke, why should he name his son after Dumbledore and himself.

“What do you mean?”

“Do you dislike your son so much, that you had to name him after me?”

“What, why? Why do you think that?”

Now Harry got angry. Why did Snape still think so badly of him, that he thought this naming thing was a joke.

“I know that we did not had the easiest relationship when you were my teacher, but after I learned the truth, I know why you were so mean to me. You did that because you could not show your real face because of the Slytherins and because I do look like my father and well, we all know what he did to you.”

Severus could only groan. Those blasted Gryffindor sentiments. Just because he gave those memories to Potter, the man now hailed him like a hero. But deep inside him Severus felt insecure about the fact that Potter named his son after him. His childhood and Potters too as he now knew was not a happy one. He knew that people would connect the baby’s name with him and he hoped that this would do no harm to the baby’s future.

But none of that was said out loud, he just nodded, and Potter took this as a clue to leave. “By the way it was my doing that you have that portrait in this office. As you were Headmaster of this school it only was natural to fight for it. And you did your best, to keep the students save during that short period so it was well deserved.”

With that the man and his son headed too the door and just when they stepped over the threshold Harry heard Snape mutter “See you in eleven years Albus Severus Potter. I hope you are not like your grandfather.”

oOo

_Eleven years later:_

Minerva just got back in her office, after lunch, when a sharp knock came from the door “Come in!”

“Professor, you wanted to see me?” asked a little boy with emerald green eyes and dark unruly hair.

“What the… Potter what did you do and why are you wearing Slytherin colours?” came a deep smooth voice from behind the headmistress.

“I did nothing! Professor McGonagall only asked me to join her for tea!” the boy tried to justify his appearance.

“Oh, do not listen to him, you did nothing wrong. I just wanted to see how your first week was going. Your father was a little bit worried, that your cousins would turn against you, because you were sorted into Slytherin. So he asked me to talk to you.”

“And why did he not asked me himself? It was a little bit embarrassing to receive a letter from the headmistress with an invitation for tea.”

“I am sorry for that. So I can take from your words that everything is alright and I can tell your father to stop worrying?“

“Yes, I would appreciate that. Can I go back to my friends now?” asked the boy impatient.

With a curt nod the headmistress dismissed the young boy, who was heading to the door when he was again stopped by that voice. “Who are you?”

Wearing a sly grin on his face and that unnerving twinkling in his eyes, the boy turned back around and stared into the dark orbs of the former Headmaster Severus Snape. “My name is Albus Severus Potter. And you must be that brave man my dad was talking about. The one I was named after. It is really a pity that you are not my head of house. This would have been wicked.”

Severus could only groan, when he heard that distinctive chuckle from Albus, whose picture was right beside his. Even in the afterlife the grey-haired man haunted Severus with his behaviour and it seems the young Mr. Potter had inherited some of this.

“Oh, now I must really go. Rose and Scorpius are waiting outside for me, so we could go together to our potions class. Bye Professor!”

“Good day, Mr. Potter!” Minerva answered, and within seconds the door to the office fell shut.

“A Potter in Slytherin. I never thought I would witness that.” muttered Snape. “And who are Rose and Scorpius?” He was curious about the friends of his namesake.

“Oh, you mean young Miss Granger-Weasley and young Mr. Malfoy.”

Now it was Minerva who was wearing a sly smile, as she witnessed the facial expression of her former colleague, who was now looking like a ghost.

“Merlin… I was never so glad to be dead.”


End file.
